12   ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE.   [cnAr.

NATURE AND NURTURE.

The phrase " nature and nurture" is a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed. Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world ; nurture is every influence from without that affects him after his birth. The distinction is clear : the one produces the infant such as it actually is, including its latent faculties of growth of body and mind ; the other affords the environment amid which the growth takes place, by which natural tendencies may be strengthened or thwarted, or wholly new ones implanted. Neither of the terms implies any theory ; natural gifts may or may not be hereditary ; nurture does not especially consist of food, clothing, education or tradition, but it includes all these and similar influences whether known or unknown.

When nature and nurture compete for supremacy on equal terms in the sense to be explained, the former proves the stronger. It is needless to insist that neither is self-sufficient ;